Smiley's Potter
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: One-Shot. Experimental crossover of George Smiley/Harry Potter. It's November of 1981, and Mr. George Smiley is in Privet Drive keeping watch for 'unmuggle' visitors. Minor spelling corrections 29th April, 2013, and 20th May, 2013. Update: Now a 'One-Two', as of September 2013. ON HIATUS.
1. November, 1981

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. I am not John le Carré either. As far as I know, at the time of this disclaimer George Smiley and company are all his inventions, and I do not own them, either.

Note: The following piece was written as an experiment which just _felt_ like it had to be written, and is a crossover between the universes of Harry Potter and George Smiley. Sadly, it ran out of steam (see Author Notes) and is a one-shot.

Update (September 2013): Okay, inspiration struck, and this ended up extended to a two-parter, but that's it for now.

Further note: for those unfamiliar with George Smiley's world, 'The Circus' is jargon/slang for MI6, of which (in Smiley canon) Saul Enderby is head in the 1970's (and I assume into the start of the 1980's). George Smiley worked on and off for the Circus for several decades, coming and going from 'retirement' as political jockeying occurred and suspicions rose and fell. The Circus of the Smiley era is fond of coming up with sideways references for other organizations, groups, or occasional individuals, and 'Unmuggles' is a term which it would seem to me that those who occupy George Smiley's world might coin to refer to witches and wizards and their ilk.

* * *

The presence of Mr. George Smiley as a solitary watcher 'for anything unusual' in the early hours of a November morning of 1981 in a street in a small town in Surrey might have surprised many who did not know him – or even some who thought that they did – but to Smiley it was an entirely logical place to be and to his instincts entirely the right time for him to be there. There were other watchers of course – those assigned to cover other periods of surveillance, since one man could not keep watch twenty-four hours a day, even if that man were Smiley – but Smiley had been quite certain that if the matter were to come to a head in Privet Drive that it would do so in the early hours of a morning, and he himself wanted to be there to observe it and to intervene if necessary.

Following the business with Karla, Saul Enderby had concluded that whilst it was a good idea for Smiley to have semi-official Circus recognition for now, that it would be preferable for him to be involved in a capacity not remotely connected to his previous work, and so he had assigned Smiley to watch the 'unmuggles' (as they were referred to in Circus lore) who thought that they were hiding successfully from the rest of Britain's population – a people who regarded themselves as a state apart, with their own independence and rulers, and who consequently could be considered to fall partly within the Circus' remit. (Given the trickiness of dealing with them, other bodies responsible for the security and welfare of the British nation were only too happy to palm dealing with them off to someone else, if they wanted it.)

This was why Smiley was here now, in Privet Drive, in Little Whinging, watching. Something big had happened – something so big that even the unmuggles' own specialist workers supposed to keep their people hidden had had trouble concealing the signs of it – and, having read all the files (unmuggles were nowhere near as careful as they thought in concealing information about their world), Smiley had concluded that Privet Drive was a high probability location for something to happen which could be of use to those who were not unmuggles. For years, now, it turned out that the unmuggles in Britain had been fighting some sort of internal war, ostensibly on ideological grounds, but in reality it was a struggle simply about power, and all too often those who were not unmuggles had been incidental casualties to their conflict. The wise men in Whitehall, and Saul Enderby were tired of this state of affairs. They wanted leverage they could apply against this world; they wanted a real, significant, asset.

Smiley had been assigned the seemingly impossible task of acquiring such an asset. It wasn't that there weren't already plenty of dissatisfied people amongst the ranks of the unmuggles prepared to betray their secret society – the way in which many first generation unmuggles were treated was sufficient to make them at least open to approaches from those who were not unmuggles and who worked for officialdom, and some unmuggles were even lowly placed (albeit well-paid) advisors to Whitehall; no, the problem was that those disaffected unmuggles were not in any position to influence unmuggle policy, nor to affect opinions of how the unmuggles viewed and treated those who were not unmuggles. This had been a problem for successive British governments and the Wise Men in Whitehall. And since Smiley had just done the impossible of arranging the defection of the head of the thirteenth directorate, those in power now expected him to follow up that minor miracle with another in a different sphere of operations, regarding a yet different society which could hardly be considered 'friendly' given the way that the vast majority of its core members regarded regular British society.

And as Smiley kept his lonely vigil, the lights suddenly started to go out along the street, and it became apparent that his watchfulness had not been in vain and that something significant was about to happen. The deliberate extinguishing of lights along the street suggested a very powerful unmuggle was present, confident – perhaps even a touch arrogant – in his or her abilities. From a purely practical point of view Smiley considered it a touch overly dramatic, and if it was intended to provide _cover_ for what was about to happen, it had had rather the opposite effect, in that it drew attention of anyone about at this hour of a cold November morning that something was taking place. Of course it made Smiley himself, in his vantage point, almost impossible for any unmuggle to detect by means of normal vision, and it was to be hoped that any unmuggle now arriving would not have other means of discovering if he or she was under observation.

The following ten minutes proved highly enlightening to Smiley about the unmuggles and some of their capabilities – and of the highly flawed methods of operating of some of their foremost leaders. For at least _one_ of them was here tonight, he was sure – the man whom the files identified as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who was a politician in unmuggle society who simultaneously moonlighted as a reportedly second-rate headmaster. Although accounts of him in Circus files varied in their exact views, the information they contained consistently conveyed an impression that whilst he was a formidable political operator, his running of the school over which he – in theory – presided left much to be desired.

Smiley thought, at least, that Albus Dumbledore looked tonight like a man who was overworked, and who had spread himself too thin, for too long, and didn't have the wisdom to step down from any of his positions or responsibilities. He looked a man who tried to cover up his weakness with a façade of eccentricity, and relied upon his reputation to get others to unquestioningly follow his orders. He looked a man, as Smiley would shortly write in one of a number of highly secret reports of his own observations of this evening, who needed a good long holiday.

And then the unmuggles were gone, and Smiley waited a further half an hour to see if anything else would happen, and then he carefully emerged from cover to cross to the doorstep of number four Privet Drive where he examined the child so casually deposited there, and the accompanying letter.

He read the letter through several times – blinking in surprise as he did so, on the first reading, at several moments – then slowly folded the letter up and put it in his pocket.

And then he picked the child up, took a moment to compose himself, and decided upon his approach, then pressed the doorbell.

* * *

Smiley presented himself to the Dursleys (Petunia and Vernon) as an overworked government official, who was simply doing what he was told, with only the bare minimum of knowledge of what was going on. He had been contacted by 'someone else' he said, who wanted Mrs. Dursley informed that her sister and her husband had been killed by a terrorist. Since there were complicated legal issues involved, she was being requested, as her sister's only known adult relative, to take care of her nephew, Harry Potter, for six months, for which the government would suitably compensate her, whilst the wheels of Whitehall bureaucracy attempted to sort the mess out. If, after that, she wanted nothing more to do with her nephew, he would be removed. If she wanted to keep him, Whitehall would try to make that possible, although the terrorist angle did rather concern them – especially since there were certain aspects to the attack which had them baffled. Smiley implied unmuggle involvement in the attack, which he was certain that Mrs. Dursley would be able to read between the lines and interpret, whilst presenting himself as a normal human being completely unaware of unmuggle existence or activities. The Dursleys, Smiley felt, were people who would respond best to that which sounded official and everyday.

He promised that a police officer would stop by on a regular basis whilst Harry Potter _was_ being kept here, to check that Mrs. Dursley and her family were okay?

Mrs. Dursley was someone who respected 'normal' authority. She agreed to take Harry for six months.

* * *

Smiley had had several reasons for wanting Harry in Privet Drive with Mrs. Dursley for six months, not least of which was that he was sure that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (who rapidly became 'the elderly hippy' in Circus nomenclature) would establish some means of observing Harry, and Smiley wanted to try and determine what that means was, before removing Harry to place him with a more suitable family. Harry Potter's aunt was someone whom it would suit neither Smiley nor his masters (nor Mrs. Dursley, he suspected, given what was known of her) for Harry to be placed with in the long-term. How it was arranged that Harry Potter was placed with a different family would depend on how Albus Dumbledore was keeping an eye on Harry; for Smiley was morally certain, from everything he'd read and seen of the man, that Albus Dumbledore would _not_ take kindly to any attempts to interfere with what he had decided was for the best, and at this stage his response was simply likely to be the use of unmuggle force to put things back as close as possible to the way that he thought that they should be, should he detect any upset in his arrangements.

Several weeks after Harry's arrival in Privet Drive, an agent arrived in Privet Drive by the name of 'Arabella Figg', who rapidly became 'the dotty cat woman' in Circus parlance. Careful visits by a number of agents (including a disaffected unmuggle temporarily on the Circus payroll) rapidly established that she had been handpicked for her task by Albus Dumbledore himself, to whom she personally reported.

It was judged that whilst she was genuinely concerned for Harry Potter's well-being, that she would prove incapable of knowingly co-operating in any deception operation. In whatever fields her talents _did_ lie, they did not have any overlap with areas which involved the wilful deceit of authority figures.

Meanwhile, it was becoming clearer by the day that Mrs. Dursley was looking forward to the moment she was no longer responsible for her nephew's care.

A compromise was reached.

Peter Guillam, who worked for the Circus, was recalled to Britain from France. He had a young wife and family, including a daughter only a few months older than Harry. Peter Guillam obtained the house next door to Mrs. Dursley's and became Harry Potter's legal guardian as far as the British state was concerned. Arrangements were made so that, for the sake of Mrs. Figg, Harry was only ever seen emerging from or entering the front-door of number four Privet Drive as if it were his home, although Mr. or Mrs. Dursley were frequently seen to leave him with their 'next door neighbours'. This arrangement seemed to work. Harry was placed with someone reliable, his aunt was no longer responsible for him but remunerated for continuing to play a minor role in his upbringing, and as far as Mrs. Figg could see, the arrangements put in place by her master were running exactly as he required.

It would come out at some point what had been done – with the passage of time it becomes increasingly likely that any intelligence deception will be uncovered, after all – but if Harry was old enough by then to be able to express an opinion on the matter, it was to be hoped that Albus Dumbledore would have to accept the situation, however grudgingly.

* * *

Author Notes:

I've assumed a Smiley universe loosely based on the books _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_ and _Smiley's People_ (which I have read and have on the shelf at home). In the books Peter Guillam had recently married a young French woman as of _Smiley's People_ (which Wikipedia dates the events of as occurring in 1977) and they are expecting their first child in the spring of the following year. For what it matters, I assume that Peter and Marie-Claire have had another child in 1980, although Peter was still in Paris for his job. If other Smiley books contradict this, this is one of those alternate universe things.

George Smiley being assigned from 1978 to keep an eye on 'unmuggles' is obviously alternate universe from Smiley canon.

When I set out to write this piece, it seemed to me that it might be highly interesting to view the world that Harry Potter occupies from the perspective of someone like George Smiley, and it was for the first half dozen paragraphs, describing the circumstances about Harry Potter's arrival in Privet Drive and the thoughts of the solitary watcher. The scene was one which cried out to be discreetly observed. Cloak and dagger arrangements afterwards to obtain the personage of The-Boy-Who-Lived (Smiley's informants are on the ball, and by the time Smiley is in Privet Drive, he already knows the fuss being made about Harry in the 'unmuggle' world) also seemed to be there to be described...

But then, it sort of fizzled out. I took a couple of stabs at writing the Hogwarts letter arriving nine and a half years later, and the spark was no longer there. Possibly I made a mistake by switching it to Harry's perspective. Maybe I should have stayed with the man who by then was Harry's 'Uncle George'. At any rate it was unsatisfactory, and therefore the project has for now been discarded. But the first few sections seemed good enough to put out in the hope of entertaining (and perhaps inspiring someone else). If nothing else, I suspect that there _ought_ to be the potential for a sizzling scene involving George Smiley and the Harry Potter universe's (only?) semi-professional spy, Severus Snape...

I assume that with the 'Wizarding War' raging, that plenty of muggle-borns (and the odd half-blood) would be happy to go to ground in the 'normal' world to try and escape the fighting (and the prejudice), and that the British secret services would be equally happy to pick them up and question them extensively, with promises of making it easier for them to settle back into the 'normal' world in exchange for co-operation. And I can't see a muggle-born 'abandoning the ship' of the Wizarding War being too bothered by the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in what they say to an organization which isn't going to publicise what they've said or who said it - or even that it's been said at all.

Update (September 2013): Going over my notes/drafts, I've extended this to a two-parter, with at least Smiley's point of view of the events immediately around the arrival of Harry's Hogwarts letter.


	2. Late Spring & Early Summer, 1991

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter. I am not John le Carré either. As far as I know, at the time of this disclaimer George Smiley and company are all his inventions, and I do not own them, either.

Note: The following is a crossover between the universes of Harry Potter and George Smiley. It is an extension of the previous chapter (originally a one-shot) making this something like a 'one-two'.

Further note: As a reminder, 'unmuggles' is a term which it would seem to me that those who occupy George Smiley's world might coin to refer to witches and wizards and their ilk. Wikipedia at the time of this note puts George Smiley as having been born round about 1915, in the updated/revised 'official' Smiley chronology, which will put him in his mid seventies as of this chapter. I have assumed that he's in good general condition for his age. _The Secret Pilgrim_ (if I take the date of publication to roughly correspond to the intended date of events within) seems to indicate that as of the late 1980's/early 1990's he's still in relatively good condition, capable of holding an entire class spellbound for a whole evening of talking/discussion.

* * *

As far as Smiley had been able to determine during the intervening years since Harry Potter (now Harry Guillam) had arrived in Privet Drive, the educational establishment in the Scottish Highlands over which Albus Dumbledore presided sent their first letters of invitation out during the May half-term holidays, to prospective pupils who had no unmuggles amongst their ancestors in recent generations. These letters were accompanied by a senior member of the school staff to make a demonstration of magic, and to answer any questions which prospective pupils or their parents might have. The deputy headmistress of the school, Professor McGonagall – who also taught the subject known as 'transfiguration' and headed one of the school's four 'houses' – was most frequently employed in this role (quite what she must think of having _her_ time spread so thin was not yet clear to Smiley), although occasionally Professor Flitwick (who taught the subject known as 'charms' and headed another 'house') stood in, or whomever was the current teacher of the subject quaintly referred to as 'muggle studies'. (The latter subject represented Hogwarts' rather inadequate attempt to inform unmuggle attendees not already acquainted with the greater part of the human race, just how those who were humans but _not_ unmuggles lived).

Smiley consequently made sure that he was in attendance at Privet Drive during the May half-term holiday of 1991, in case a crisis should arise when the first wave of letters went out. Although Harry's birth parents had both been unmuggles (and indeed Harry's father's family had had unmuggles in it for many generations), Albus Dumbledore had deliberately left Harry on the doorstep of two adults in the shape of Petunia and Vernon Dursley with practically no experience at all of the unmuggle world and little inclination to talk about what they _did_ know of it. Had Smiley been in Albus Dumbledore's position, and felt obliged (for whatever reasons he deemed necessary) to place Harry in Privet Drive with the Dursley family, he would have at the least made sure that Harry was treated as if a boy with no unmuggle near relations, and received his invitation to consider a place at Hogwarts in May, in the first wave to go out.

That Albus Dumbledore did not have the foresight to make this arrangement offended Smiley in some inexplicable way. And it was certainly, he felt, sufficiently big an oversight to indicate that Albus Dumbledore was spreading himself _far_ too thin. The half-term holiday came and went, bringing with it neither missives nor visitors from Hogwarts, and Smiley (who as 'Uncle George' was a family friend of the Guillam family and known to stay there occasionally) removed himself from Privet Drive once again, to plan his next move.

The next wave of letters were due to start being issued in June, with those to children with at least one unmuggle parent but known to be living in households that were based partly in the normal world being issued, once their schools had concluded for the year. This was exceptionally short notice for any families who might have already made other educational arrangements to reconsider and perhaps change their minds in, but unmuggle society was at times almost irrational in the organization of its administration.

Smiley, therefore, returned to the Guillam household the day before Harry's school broke up, and consigned himself to a spell of much reading of newspapers, accompanied by occasional accounts to the children-of-the-family of trips to foreign lands (stripped of any but the lightest of references of Circus business, of course, so essentially descriptions of the places and the peoples and cultures).

Smiley was tolerated by the Guillam brood. He was the 'uncle' who always sent small but practical presents on Christmas and birthdays, and who was known to be some weird friend (and onetime former boss) of their dad. Occasionally he was 'The Official Secret', when the children were feeling particularly mischievous, as they _knew_ there were a good many things that he simply wasn't ever likely to tell them. Some of their speculations on the things he might have done amused him. Others at times downright terrified him, in the closeness which they came to hitting some mark or other, calling for all his powers of misdirection to ensure that they were (as always) left guessing as to what he _might_ have done, once-upon-a-time.

Children could be merciless interrogators.

The Monday of the first week after Harry's school had broken up, there came a polite rap on the door, mid-morning, and Smiley (who had been left in the role of child-minder, with Peter and Marie-Claire out of the house on some domestic errand) went to open the door to find a dark-haired man with gleaming black eyes on the doorstep, an expression of affected boredom on his face.

Smiley _knew_ who this was, or at least whom he appeared to be – given that unmuggles had all sorts of methods at their fingertips to disguise themselves, impersonation was a possibility, although in this particular circumstance Smiley judged highly unlikely. This was one of the British unmuggles (known to currently be alive) upon whom the Circus had one of the largest and most detailed files of any unmuggle to have come to their attention. This was the closest thing that unmuggle Britain had to a successful semi-professional spy – Severus Snape, who had served at least two masters on opposing sides during the latter part of the conflict known to British unmuggles as 'The Wizarding War' and who must have presumably betrayed at least one of said masters. Albus Dumbledore had been one of those masters, and he had kept Severus Snape close to hand after the fighting had ended, in the capacity of a potions teacher at Hogwarts and also as the head of one of the Hogwarts houses. Severus Snape was one of the last people on the school's staff that Smiley would have expected Albus Dumbledore to ordinarily send out with a child's invitation to Hogwarts – least of all with Harry Potter's, given that Severus Snape had feuded with _both_ of Harry's birth parents at times. Severus Snape was the man that Albus Dumbledore relied upon when there was possibly foul play involved, or dirty work to be done. That Severus Snape was here now said that at the very least Albus Dumbledore was concerned that something had clearly gone astray, and was sending his spy in to investigate.

Smiley thanked his lucky stars that Peter and Marie-Claire were both out, leaving him to have opened the door to this man.

"Excuse me, but I'm looking for a boy called 'Harry Potter' who I have reason to believe might be living somewhere on this road." Severus Snape said, looking at Smiley.

Smiley fixed his gaze most carefully upon the tip of Severus Snape's rather pronounced hooked-nose in replying. The man was suspected of being capable of literally reading minds, but everything known about unmuggles suggested that those with this ability required eye-to-eye contact to successfully employ it.

"Who are you, and why are you looking for 'Harry Potter'?" Smiley replied politely, doing as little as possible to indicate any specific knowledge of Harry or his location. "Is there something wrong? Are you with the police?"

Severus Snape considered the possibilities of this for a moment.

"My name is Severus Snape. The 'Harry Potter' that I am searching for is a boy coming up to eleven years old. Dark-haired. Green-eyed. A boarding school a couple of his relatives, since deceased, had paid for him to have a place at is interested in contacting Mr. Potter and ascertaining if he would like to attend? The school's records indicated him as living on this street, but there is some confusion over his actual address, and it's possible that he goes under a family name of not 'Potter' but 'Guillam'."

Smiley deliberately looked Severus Snape up and down, letting the other man see Smiley apparently weighing him up, and making a judgement about his credibility.

"Do you have any accreditations empowering you as a representative of this school?" Smiley asked, exhibiting a slight reluctance to proceed further with answers to this strange man who had turned up on the doorstep, asking questions about a schoolboy.

Severus Snape eyed Smiley for a moment, then reached inside his coat, and pulled out a leaflet.

"I have a brochure advertising the school. I actually work there, in a capacity as a teacher, and it's possible you may spot me in one of the photographs, though the school uniforms – and official garb for staff – are a touch old-fashioned."

Smiley took the leaflet and looked over it slowly, apparently taking in the information. He had seen several such leaflets in his time – the Circus had collected a number of them from disillusioned unmuggles who'd abandoned the secret society, including even the occasional leaflet (intended solely for distribution in unmuggle society) whose print images endlessly danced and flickered. This was one of the leaflets, however, which lacked any obvious hallmarks of enchantment, such as the school produced for members of staff travelling in normal society – where the duty not to unduly imperil the existence of their secret world by even any presentation materials that they might carry, was paramount.

Smiley took particular care to look at the photo of the staff line-up, and to visibly pick out Severus Snape in it, glancing up from the photo to the man in front of him, and back down at the photo. He was already familiar with practically all the information in the leaflet, although the pictures were different from and thus showed a little more than was previously in Circus files of the school – even if nothing on display suggested that the school taught 'Witchcraft and Wizardry'.

And whilst he was looking over the leaflet, a part of Smiley's mind was racing, with the question of how to handle the man in front of him. Exactly what _had_ happened to Harry would be certain to come out, with this particular man on the doorstep in front of him. There was no way it could be avoided.

Smiley finished looking over the leaflet, transferred it to his left hand, and looked up at Severus Snape and smiled. He extended his right hand towards Severus Snape.

"Mr. George Smiley, retired clerk." he beamed at Severus Snape.

Severus Snape hesitated a mere fraction of a second, whilst his face twitched just _slightly_, then he took Smiley's hand, and allowed Smiley to shake his.

"I used to have a desk job with British Intelligence." Smiley continued. "Nothing I'm allowed to talk about."

And he looked Severus Snape in the eyes as he said that, certain that the man would likely be too shocked in that moment to employ mind-reading magic of his own, but Smiley wanting to be certain of Severus' _exact_ reaction.

And then the moment was over and Smiley was politely releasing Severus' hand and looking modestly down.

"I've heard things about Harry, of course." he continued. "Some of them very hard to believe, and I am by way of being something of a friend of the family. Indeed, I have been left childminding for them this morning. You can come in and meet Harry and his brothers and sisters, if you like, Mr. Snape."

Severus Snape was off-balance, right now, as Smiley skilfully and rapidly tossed all manner of surprises on him, which his mind would be reeling from as he tried to digest and read between the lines of – and work out how they would impact his own mission here today. Smiley wanted Severus to see him as an unexpected and unlikely but potential ally; as someone who might well keep secrets from him, but who at least was going to be up front and honest that he was doing so; as someone who just _might_ have a degree of sympathy and empathy for some of the incompetent masters and disastrous missions that Severus had had to take part in and the injustices with which he had had to put up, in the course of his own career.

Smiley judged, having met Severus Snape in person, that it was possible that Severus Snape might be persuaded with unspoken arguments that he, George Smiley, was someone whom he could trust and in whom he could within limits confide.

Severus Snape hesitated.

"And since it's about that time of day, perhaps you'd care for some elevenses too, whilst you're here?" Smiley offered.

* * *

In the short distance between front-door and living room, Severus Snape managed to discreetly enquire as to how Harry had become part of the Guillam family, and Smiley had let him know that he'd been adopted from the folk next door who had neither expected nor wanted to cope with him. Severus Snape of course looked around what he could see of the interior of the house with a good deal of interest, and in particular over the collection of children in the living-room, his gaze lingering for just a fraction of a second longer than on any of the others on Harry.

"Children: This is Professor Snape, who is from a boarding school in Scotland." Smiley introduced the visitor. "He's here because apparently Harry's birth parents had made arrangements for Harry to perhaps one day attend it, and the school's only just discovered where Harry lives."

That was technically what Severus had just told him, although some of the children were tremendously sceptical and would no doubt want to discuss that later, if they didn't feel like raising it with Severus Snape.

"It isn't any ordinary boarding school…" Severus grimaced, finding himself faced with an audience of children when he had most likely been expecting only one. Oh dear, Smiley thought to himself – Severus was digging himself rapidly into a hole given these particular children, and Smiley's charity towards the man only extended _so_ far.

"I'll leave you to talk to Harry and his adopted siblings, and go and make a pot of tea." Smiley said, disappearing in the general direction of the kitchen, leaving the intervening doors slightly ajar so that he could keep track of anything interesting that came up in the ensuing conversation.

He was abandoning Severus Snape to the tender mercies (or lack thereof) of a group whose favourite games were 'ambassadors and spies' and 'interrogators' – and he was reasonably certain that Albus Dumbledore would have instructed Severus to use any means and persuasion necessary to try and ensure that Harry (if located) would at the least be highly interested in attending Hogwarts come next September. Severus Snape might be a spy, but he was about to be ambushed, whilst acting under orders to presumably be at least partially co-operative with any questions to create a favourable impression.

* * *

Twelve valuable minutes of intelligence gathering later, Smiley returned to the living room with a tray during a brief lull in the interrogation, as the children went into a huddle to discuss what they had learned and which Severus Snape had intentionally or otherwise disclosed.

"'Official secrets'?" Severus glanced at Smiley, asking about the only lead that the children had offered _him_.

"Peter and Marie-Claire and I are aware to a _certain_ extent of some of the people and events that are part of the world in which you operate, Professor Snape." Smiley said. "Some of the information is highly disturbing, involving confusing and – on some points – occasionally highly contradictory accounts of a guerrilla war. On top of that your society quite clearly goes to some lengths to keep its existence as hidden as possible from the rest of us. So, on the off-chance that someone such as yourself, knowledgeable of what it was and was not safe in the eyes of your society to disclose, might be along some day, we've assumed that most areas of knowledge were to be treated as if 'official secrets', not to be unduly disclosed, even to them, and told the children so. If contact had never been made by anyone such as yourself, we've always been clear with Harry that once he reached his legal majority, pursuant to his signing various documents he _would_ be informed of what we did know of his birth parents and origins."

Severus looked briefly at the children, noting, no doubt, that nothing in this exchange between the two adults in the room seemed news to them.

"The situation in wizarding Britain is… complicated." Severus said. "I am not informed of what Harry was intended to know of it had he remained with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, but I can understand and appreciate the cautious and discreet approach which you have taken here." There was an underlying note of respect in that – Severus Snape understood that he was dealing with _professionals_ and he found the situation refreshing as compared to the amateurs and armchair-generals with whom he usually had to cope.

"My aunt and uncle live next door, and they've _never_ seemed to want to talk about my birth parents, sir." Harry chipped into the situation carefully, observing Severus. He paused. "I don't think that they liked them very much."

"Your birth parents were much like the product 'marmite'." Severus Snape said keeping an impressively neutral face and tone of voice. "People either loved them or loathed them."

Severus Snape, Smiley knew, had loathed James Potter – that fact came through clearly in every single Circus debriefing of a refugee from the unmuggle world which had touched upon Severus Snape and his school days at Hogwarts. Severus Snape's relationship with Lily Potter – formerly Lily Evans – was more ambiguous. The Circus knew that Severus and Lily had grown up in the same town as one another, that they had attended Hogwarts at the same time as each other (and as James Potter), and that they seemed to have communicated with one another on at least a not-altogether-hostile basis, until some incident at the end of their fifth year at Hogwarts – after which they had apparently never had anything else to say to one another. Severus had called Lily something in public – accounts varied, unsurprisingly given the years that intervened between it and the time that the Circus started digging into Severus Snape's background – but it seemed likely that it had been some insult that was commonly in circulation at the time. Lily had taken it particularly hard, coming from Severus, however, for whatever reason, and that had been the end of any accounts that the two ever had anything other than distinctly frosty words for one another in public. It had been, Smiley was sure, a defining moment in Severus' life – the end of the last remotely friendly contact he had had at school with anyone possessed of no immediate unmuggle heritage, and the point that he had become that little bit more attractive a recruitment target for the guerrillas who called themselves the 'Death Eaters'.

Harry was observing Severus carefully, trying to determine whether Severus had loved or loathed Harry's birth parents, but looked to find the man's carefully schooled face and tone to defeat him.

"Would it be _safe_ for me at Hogwarts, sir, given what you've had to say about my birth parents and how they came to be killed?" Harry switched to a different line of inquiry. "You mentioned that _someone in authority_ took the decision to send me away from your society, in the first place, ten years ago, because they were afraid it might not be safe for me there."

This question seemed to throw Severus. Smiley helpfully passed him a cup of tea and a biscuit to give him cover whilst he paused to think about it. Severus absent-mindedly sipped the tea, dunked the biscuit and nibbled on it, then sipped some more tea, before answering at last.

"Despite what others may say, Harry, I do not believe that Hogwarts _is_ a safe place, and it would certainly not be any safer for you than for any other pupil. That said, there are problems which you are going to have to confront at _some_ point, and at least Hogwarts might be a relatively controlled environment in which you could face them down."

And there it was. Perhaps it was calculation that it was better to be honest given all the evidence that could be uncovered to the contrary, or perhaps it was a first tiny betrayal of the school in putting Harry's interests ahead of the school's, but Severus Snape had broken ranks with the proclaimed Hogwarts orthodoxy, parroted by the staff, that the school was one of the safest places in Europe – despite the trail of scandals and 'accidents' which seemed to follow the defence teachers, in particular, and to beg evidence to the contrary.

At which propitious moment, there of course came the sound of a car in the drive, followed shortly by a key in the front door and of voices in the hall.

Peter and Marie-Claire had returned home from their excursion.

* * *

With the return of the children's parents the dynamic shifted subtly but distinctly. Smiley contented himself to sink back into the background, making only the very occasional remark, diminished in role from senior adult on the scene to now merely a guest in the house. There was a further round of introductions, and Peter and Marie-Claire laboriously went over again some of the ground already covered by Smiley and the children, getting little of significance out of Severus that Smiley and the children had not already extracted. The air of easy camaraderie was gone – this was something of a business meeting now, though that was what was appropriate with parental involvement.

Peter and Marie-Claire both expressed their doubts and reservations about Harry going away to a boarding school in Scotland. Having walked in midway through the discussions, and themselves aware that Severus Snape was one of the _last_ people that Hogwarts would ordinarily send out, they wanted time to think, and a chance with an absence of Hogwarts staff upon the scene to discuss things through with Smiley.

Smiley spied an opportunity.

"You're a busy man, Professor Snape, and with plenty of other things to do, I dare say." he interjected. "Perhaps if it would not be too much trouble, the school could contact a member of your society who was a close personal friend of Harry's birth-parents, who could perhaps afford to spend a whole day talking to Peter and Marie-Claire and answering their questions?"

Severus' eyes glinted briefly.

"That could be arranged, I'm sure." he said smoothly.

Leave was taken. Severus Snape departed. Smiley philosophically kept his peace about the moment of connection which Peter and Marie-Claire had intruded upon, turning an opportunity to dust. Setbacks were almost inevitable in any operation.

And by asking for 'a close personal friend of Harry's birth-parents', Smiley may as well (had he wished to cause a sensation and to dramatically expose how much he knew or guessed about the unmuggle world) have asked by name for 'Remus Lupin'. For under the circumstances and in response to such a request, he was reasonably certain that Albus Dumbledore, sitting several hundred miles away in his castle office, would inevitably select Remus Lupin as his next emissary.

* * *

Remus John Lupin was an unmuggle who during his childhood had been afflicted with an apparently incurable condition which during the three nights of the full moon of every lunar month caused him to adopt the form of a large and savage beast. He was, as both ordinary _and_ unmuggle folk would call it, a 'werewolf'. He was known to the Circus to have been a close associate of James Potter throughout their school days – Remus Lupin had been in the same year group and even the same Hogwarts _house_ as James Potter – and to have remained a close friend to James during the period between the conclusion of their Hogwarts education and James and Lily's demise in 1981.

Remus Lupin was also a man who, on balance, seemed likely to feel hugely indebted to Albus Dumbledore. Under the rules of unmuggle society, he shouldn't have even _attended_ Hogwarts, due to his lycanthropic condition, and his arrival and study there had only been made possible due to the near-constant furtive support throughout Remus' Hogwarts years from the headmaster – who had been then, as he still was today, Albus Dumbledore.

Of all the members of James and Lily Potter's inner circle of _friends_, Remus Lupin was the one who was not dead, imprisoned, or otherwise incapacitated whom Albus Dumbledore would trust the most, and to whom he would commit such a mission, Smiley felt sure.

And sure enough, the day after Severus Snape's visit to Privet Drive, a note arrived from Albus Dumbledore, asking if it would be convenient for one 'Remus J. Lupin' to call upon the Guillam household, on one of a number of dates?

Smiley absent-mindedly wondered how Albus Dumbledore's debriefing of Severus Snape must have gone, and what Albus Dumbledore was thinking right now about Harry's having fallen-in with a family which had close ties to the British intelligence services? Most unmuggles, Smiley was sure, would have had an attitude of 'so what?' but Albus Dumbledore, for all that he spread himself around far too much and far too thin, would at least have had a moment of hesitation over the fact that his intended arrangements for Harry's upbringing had gone awry, with steps having been taken to ensure that he did not detect and take alarm over that fact. He would probably try to pull a few strings with contacts he had – attempt to determine things through what covert channels existed between the rulers of unmuggle society and Her Majesty's government. He would almost certainly be carrying out an investigation right now, by whatever resources he might have to hand, of the Guillams.

And he would of course send Remus Lupin, with a detailed brief to look for certain things; to ask certain questions; to _make sure that the boy he, Albus Dumbledore, deposited on a doorstep ten years earlier, was okay_.

Albus Dumbledore, Smiley considered, was a man with one completely unexpected thing now suddenly on his mind…

* * *

Peter and Marie-Claire supervised the visit by Remus Lupin. Smiley did his best to brief and advise them in advance – and more to the point primed the children – and then took his leave of Privet Drive. At this stage he wanted to keep Albus Dumbledore guessing as to the extent of Smiley's own role in proceedings, and in case Albus Dumbledore had armed his emissary with instructions to 'tidy up if at all convenient' it was probably best not to have _all_ the targets that Remus would reasonably need to cover in one place for him. Having Smiley absent from the scene would remove Remus Lupin at least one step in temptation from drawing his wand and starting to pop away with spells.

The visit, Smiley subsequently gathered, was something of a success. The children had ambushed Remus Lupin, in his wide-eyed innocence, with requests for information about the friends that Harry's birth parents had had at school, _and where they all were now_? And piece by piece, they had extracted from him, an account of events surrounding the ultimate betrayal and untimely deaths of Harry's birth parents, as from Remus Lupin's own perspective and knowledge. Remus Lupin had held back on some things – presumably on Albus Dumbledore's instructions, he hadn't mentioned the 'prophecy' that Smiley had heard rumours of at all, feigning that the guerrilla leader had singled James and Lily Potter out for attention simply because they were persistent opponents. He had also neglected to mention that Sirius Black, who was believed to have betrayed the Potters, had not had a thorough investigation of the exact circumstances of his assumed treachery, but simply been tossed into Azkaban (what British unmuggle society liked to creatively style its 'prison') without even the briefest of trials. In Remus' defence, it had to be said that back in 1981 Sirius Black _had_ apparently just betrayed two friends to their deaths, casually murdered another (plus a dozen or so bystanders who happened to be on the scene at the time), and been in all probability betraying a secret organization of which he was a member to a rival secret organization for an unknown period, despite the first organization being led by a man to whom he ought to feel indebted for his patronage at school – and it was entirely possible that in Remus' world-view that that sort of level of assumed treachery justified being tossed into prison without a thorough investigation.

The lack of trial (or apparently even of a proper interrogation in the unmuggles' 'Ministry') irked Smiley though. It was unprofessional. It was assuming that nothing further could be learnt from Sirius Black regarding his motivations, recruitment to the guerrilla organization, or of his allies or contacts within it, if he was guilty of all that he had been accused of, and if by some (however improbable) chance he was actually innocent, it denied the opportunity to discover _that_ and to root out the _true_ traitor who had betrayed the Potters.

Besides the matter of the circumstances of the deaths of Harry's birth parents, Remus Lupin had talked with the Guillams at length about Hogwarts and unmuggle society in general. By the accounts of the members of the Guillam household, Remus had been mildly optimistic in the opinions he expressed about it, almost to a fault, which was what Smiley had expected and been another reason why he had been so sure that Albus Dumbledore, wishing to convey a positive image, would select Remus Lupin for this task. Remus Lupin had spoken with especial passion about 'how safe Hogwarts had always been' – ignoring the fact that during Remus Lupin's _own_ school days some of the pranks, which the close circle in which he had been involved (including Harry's birth father) had (by Remus' own account) carried out, _must_ have made Hogwarts a distinctly _unsafe_ place to be for others.

"He was a _nice_ person." announced Peter and Marie-Claire's oldest child, Joy, in the wake of Remus Lupin's departure. "But _nice_ in a rather hopeless way."

That was, Smiley thought, a fair summary in at least part of Remus Lupin's character – it might well be the fruit of a conscious reaction by Remus to the 'wolf' side of himself, and a result of the years of discrimination that he had suffered in unmuggle society. Remus conveyed the appearance of a man who longed to please, and who kept his head down and tried not to give offence to anyone.

And he was certainly a devoted disciple of the man who had nurtured him through school, whose hand he would _never_ intentionally bite.

* * *

The children and the adults of the Guillam household conferred at length upon the topic of Harry and magical schooling – for a period of several weeks – to which discussions Smiley had no wish to be party, nor any desire on which to exert any influence unless specifically called upon to give an opinion. Harry saw for himself a clear need for _someone_ with sense to investigate the unmuggle world and to report back on it, but there was doubt over the safest or most effective methods by which such an investigation could be carried out – and recognition that safety and effectiveness did not necessarily conflate with one another.

There was much talk of foreign schools.

Hogwarts sent a letter in the midst of these family discussions, pressing Harry for a decision, which very nearly turned him completely against the school. A short-tempered 'we're still talking about it' response was sent back, which must have been effective in conveying its sentiment, since a highly apologetic letter was rapidly forthcoming from Hogwarts in reply, attempting to pour generous libations of amelioratory oil upon troubled waters.

The discussions resumed.

And finally, a decision was reached.

* * *

Author Notes: (subject to update depending on early reviews)

It bothered me, not having written the Severus Snape/George Smiley encounter, and something actually 'clicked' into place, when I should have been writing something else.

With regard to schools, it seems to me that the Guillams eventually concluded Beaxbatons is a 'better' option, at least initially (Peter speaks French, Marie-Claire _is_ French, the entire family will be bilingual to some extent in at least this language) and maybe mollify Albus Dumbledore (if regarded as strictly necessary) by promising to keep open minds about the possibility of Harry transferring to Hogwarts later - depending on what they hear of Hogwarts. (Which isn't likely to be too good, initially, given the account likely to emerge in early November 1991 of a first year crushed by a troll in a bathroom during an interruption to the Hallowe'en feast, resulting in an investigation by British magical law enforcement.)

I'm not clear (as of the time of writing this) on exactly when Hogwarts letters start to go out. Following some message exchanges I found helpful with the member, Duj, I've concluded it's probably not during the winter (there's no mention of snow in the memory Albus' shows Harry of his delivering Tom's letter in _Half-Blood Prince_, which it seems to me the original author wouldn't have been able to resist if she'd intended the letter delivered in the winter), and based on Harry's own experience (unless he was a special case) the school seems to leave it as late as possible. Maybe known/suspected muggle-borns _might_ get their letters much earlier than those already supposedly 'aware' of magic, but for the purposes of this universe I've assumed that Hogwarts leaves it as late as indicated in this chapter.

Peter and Marie-Claire's eldest child being a girl named 'Joy' (or the French equivalent) is something I made up as a background detail for this story. The name (and even the sex) in canon of their first born is indeterminate in any of the Smiley novels to which (as of September 2013) I currently have access.

Thanks again, to Duj, and that's it from this story for now.


End file.
